different between epiphyte vs strangler

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ???????? (epiphúton, “one [plant] that grows upon another plant”), from ??? (epí, “on top of”) + ????? (phutón, “plant”), via epi- (“above, over”) +? -phyte (“plant”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /??p?f??t/

Noun

epiphyte (plural epiphytes)

1. (botany) A plant that grows on another, using it for physical support but obtaining no nutrients from it and neither causing damage nor offering benefit; an air plant.
   • 1848, John Lindley, A notice of some species of Rhododendron inhabiting Borneo, Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, Volume 3, page 88,

     It has been suggested to me that these fine plants will not prove cultivable, because they are epiphytes. […] The probability however is, that they do not require to be treated as epiphytes, and that, like orchids, they will grow better if committed judiciously to the earth.

   • 1893, Natural Science: A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress, Volume 3, page 185,

     The nature of the surface of a plant also determines the number and sort of Epiphytes which lodge on it.

Derived terms

• epiphytic
• epiphytism
• epiphytize
• semiepiphyte

Related terms

• saprophyte

Translations

English

Etymology

strangle +? -er

Noun

strangler (plural stranglers)

1. Someone who strangles, especially who murders by strangling.
2. An epiphyte whose aerial roots eventually strangle the tree on which it grows.

Derived terms

• toad-strangler
• strangler fig

Translations